SIPA: School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University

Curriculum

Overview | MA Degree | MPhil Degree | PhD Degree

Requirements for the MPhil Degree
(To be completed before beginning full-time work on the dissertation in the fourth year)

Students begin examinations for the MPhil in Sustainable Development only after they have completed all core courses described above, the natural science course sequence and the social science elective sequence, as well as the MA thesis. In order to take the oral examinations for the M. Phil., students must also submit a dissertation prospectus. Examination of the prospectus and fields of scholarship are completed at the end of the third year.

1. Completion of the MA requirements with a minimum of 60 credits and a B+ average.
2. Completion of all third-year required courses, described below:

   Social Sciences: Two social science electives. For details of social science electives previously taken by students in the program, please see here.
   

   Elective Courses: Students can register for as many additional courses as they need after completion of their requirements. Continued participation in the Sustainable Development seminar is also required (students are required to register for the seminar in their first three years and are encouraged to attend throughout their tenure).

3. Submission of a final draft of the dissertation prospectus to the MPhil Examining Committee three weeks prior to the MPhil examinations.
4. Fulfillment of requirements to prove competency in two research tools

   
   Students should possess at least two research tools before starting the dissertation portion of this program. Among these is an advanced understanding of quantitative methods, to be gained through the mandatory core courses in quantitative methods (Introduction to Econometrics I and II, and a third Quantitative Analysis course). The other research tool should be appropriate to the student's dissertation work. In consultation with the student's academic advisers, this second tool could be fulfilled through a two-course sequence in GIS or other analytic modeling systems, or through a proficiency examination in a language that may be particularly important for understanding the literature of the student's chosen specialty, and selected with the approval of the academic adviser. English is not accepted as a foreign language in fulfillment of this requirement.

5. Successful completion of the MPhil Qualifying Exams (Orals)
   
   Students are eligible to take the qualifying examinations (Orals) for the MPhil at the end of their third year or early in their fourth year, and must take the exam before the end of the fourth academic year at the latest, after satisfactory completion of all required coursework, and having obtained a GPA not less than B+.  The qualifying examinations are made up of a two-hour long oral exam designed to examine the candidates’ formal learning and their capability to do independent research, including the presentation of a dissertation prospectus/proposal.  The examination committee will consist of three faculty members, normally from the Sustainable Development core faculty, and will be chaired by the Director of Graduate Studies (DGS), who will lead the discussion of the prospectus.  Students who fail to sit for their Orals by the end of the summer of their fourth year are at risk of being removed from the program.

To be eligible to take the MPhil Qualifying Examinations, candidates must have:

1. Completed coursework (60 credits of required and elective courses with a B+ average);
2. Presented a research project in the Sustainable Development Seminar SDEV9200.01. The research should have been conducted during the course of their PhD studies at Columbia and could form the nucleus of their subsequent MA thesis. 
3. Submitted -- with satisfactory evaluation -- a Master’s thesis, at least three months before taking the Orals.

The MPhil Qualifying Examinations will be divided into two distinct parts as follows: 

1. A presentation of the dissertation prospectus/proposal.  The dissertation can be in the form of a regular size document or in the form of 3 separate but connected papers. It needs to be distinct from the Master’s thesis though it can build on the research done for the latter. The prospectus should be approximately 10 pages long and cover the methods and objective of the research project.  For those writing 3 papers, the prospectus should describe all three. The candidate will give a five minute formal presentation of the prospectus, and all members of the examining committee, led by the DGS, will ask questions related to the prospectus. The dissertation prospectus must be submitted and approved by the advisor.
2. Examination of proficiency in fields most relevant to the proposed research, from within the following three subjects:

   i.   Economics (e.g. development economics, environmental economics etc..);

   ii.  Natural Science (e.g. hydrology, climatology etc..);

   iii. Sustainable Development (the general, integrative field in which the relevant coursework and proposed research resides).

   Students can choose, if they deem that relevant, to add an elective 4th field which could be another subfield of the above, or the study of a region, etc

[The examination fields and associated reading lists have to be approved by the respective examiners AND by the DGS by the beginning of the semester in which the exam is taken.]

Half an hour will be dedicated to each field exam, and half an hour to the dissertation prospectus, after which the examiners will deliberate.

Evaluation:
Each of the four components of the Orals: examination in the three chosen fields and presentation of the dissertation prospectus, will be given a separate grade on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being the lowest and 5 the highest.  If the average grade given by the examining committee is 3.5 or above the student receives a clear pass.  If the average grade is below 3.0 the student will be considered to have failed and will be required to leave the program by the end of the current semester.  If the average grade is between 3.0 and 3.5 or if any individual grade is below 3.0 the committee will discuss options that may include requiring the student to take further courses, revise their prospectus, or provide a revised research paper, among other options.  

To Obtain the M.Phil Degree, the student should have:

1. Completed the coursework (60 credits of core requirements and specialization electives as approved by the DGS), with a B+ average.
2. Passed the Orals with a 3.5 grade.
3. Completed at least 4 out of 6 semesters of service requirements (Teaching Assistant, TA or Research Assistant, RA appointments). Students with outside funding need to complete a minimum of 2 TA appointments.

The Program faculty and the DGS will exercise their judgment in determining, on the basis of the student’s full record, whether he or she should be awarded an MPhil and advance to the PhD candidacy.

Continue to the next section: PhD Degree